updated 05:10 pm EDT, Tue April 1, 2008

HTC Touch DUAL for US

HTC today said it would its Touch DUAL smartphone to the US, signaling the first change to the phone in the country since the original Touch. The Americanized slider will be HTC's first confirmed phone for the country to use Windows Mobile 6.1 out of the box, providing the improved navigation and (in summer) web browsing without the need for a software patch. Typing will also be easier, HTC promises: versions will be available both with a conventional keypad and with double-letter buttons similar to RIM's SureType keypads on the BlackBerry Pearl line.

The new take on the handset also represents HTC's first US device to support full HSDPA Internet access on local bands and will work natively with AT&T's 3G service. HTC is veering from its traditional strategy for the country of launching its phones locked to any one carrier and will sell the Touch DUAL as an unlocked device at Best Buy, allowing it to work for T-Mobile subscribers who can accept using slower EDGE data. Pricing hasn't been fixed for the cellphone, though it ships during the spring.